TOWN NEWS BRIEFING

BERLIN -- The town has sold stock it received from Anthem Blue Cross and the $76,610 profit will be invested into its health insurance fund.

The stock was given to the town when Blue Cross became a publicly traded company last year. Since the town cannot hold stock, it had to sell the shares it was given. Funds put into the health insurance fund will earn interest and will also be used to defray the town's health insurance costs.

AREAWIDE

Street, Club Drugs

Focus Of Lecture

Tunxis Community College invites the community to a free health lecture, "What You Should Know About Street and Club Drugs."

The lecture will be Aug. 12 from 1:15 to 3:15 p.m., in Room 326 at the college.

Sgt. Gabriel Lupo of the Hamden Police Department will talk about the effects and dangers of a number of street and club drugs, narcotic use and preparation, street sales, laws pertaining to narcotics, and signs and symptoms of drug use. Lupo is commanding officer of the Street Crime Unit in Hamden, vice president of the Narcotics Office Association of Connecticut, and is a police instructor in narcotics and related fields.

Individuals with disabilities who will need accommodation for this event should contact the Office of the Dean of Student Services at 860-679-9533.

Tunxis is located at the junction of Routes 6 & 177 in Farmington.

BERLIN

State Grant Provides

Access To Land Records

BERLIN -- The town clerk's office has received a $5,000 grant to computerize the land record indices from 1972-73.

The State Library grant will allow Berlin officials to computerize the information. Town Clerk Kate Wall said she hoped officials would be able to make the new system, with the deeds from those years, available over the Internet.

NEW BRITAIN

Hearing Planned

On Election Change

NEW BRITAIN -- The common council will hold a public hearing Wednesday on whether the city should electits 15 aldermen by districts.

Council members now are elected to represent the city at-large, a system that limits the majority party -- now Democrats -- to 10 seats. The charter revision commission has recommended a switch to district representation. Under that system, the city would be carved into five districts, with three council members elected in each. No more than two from each district could be of the same political party, preserving a minority party presence.

The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. in city hall's common council chambers.

NEW BRITAIN

George Bray Center

Receives Approval

NEW BRITAIN -- The George Bray Cancer Center at New Britain General Hospital has received a three-year approval as a teaching hospital cancer program from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons.

The designation assures patients that this cancer program meets 47 mandatory standards set by the college's aprovals program.

The approvals program promotes consultation among surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists who work in multidisciplinary cooperation. The cancer center at New Britain provides comprehensive cancer care offering a wide range of services, technology and treatment options in a community setting close to home and family.

The George Bray Cancer Center is committed to clinical research and participates in cooperative research groups such as the Eastern Co-Operative Oncology Group, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, and the Gynecologic Oncology Group. Such research provides patients with access to investigational drugs and other treatments that may prove to be extremely valuable in treating cancer.

SOUTHINGTON

State To Forgive Loan

For Pollution Testing

SOUTHINGTON -- State officials have told the town they will forgive an $89,000 loan paying for environmental testing at the polluted Beaton and Corbin site, minus 3 percent interest.

"Hopefully, the 3 percent we're paying back to the state will be covered by interest income since we've had the money. So it should be a wash," Town Attorney Mark Sciota said last Thursday.

State officials also authorized David Gworek, president of Diversified Environmental Services, to conduct more tests to fine-tune the location of certain hot spots of contamination, said Sciota, who met with state officials in mid-July.

Diversified, hired by the town to evaluate the feasibility of cleaning the former metal-plating factory property at 318 N. Main St., has so far spent $25,000 on its study, Sciota said.

Last month, the town council voted to ask the state Department of Economic Development to forgive the $89,000 loan, after Gworek's study found that contamination from solvents, petroleum and heavy metals in the soils is so extensive a cleanup could cost $1 million more than originally estimated. The town is now working with the Brownfield Development state agency to apply for grants to cover a cleanup.

Not wanting to assume ownership of the badly contaminated property, the town would need between $500,000 to $1 million in grants to cover costs and persuade a developer to perform the clean up, Sciota told the town council last week. The town would also forgive outstanding taxes on the 3.5 acre property, which totaled about $130,000 as of early July.